Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Aftermath

I thought I was going to be so clever and post a picture of the carnage that Norcrosswreaked on my brake pads. But apparently Mike Joosis more cleverer than me and had that idea before me. Younger and faster not only on the bike, but the internet too.

Well, here they are anyways.

The pads on the left are only 2 weeks old!

No wonder there was some grinding.

I don't care how "epic" your trail ride is, nothing puts more wear and tare on you bike and person than racing.

Maybe being a Saturday race, recovery was a little easier; having an extra 24 hours before having to go back to work really let me take my time cleaning up and coasting through.That is one of the many pluses about singlespeeds, there are that many fewer parts to have to clean and maintain when you are beat down from racing and driving home from the venue. Even so, if you can hose it down before heading home you're a little better off.

I usually have a hard time sleeping the night after a race. My body temperature feels high and I ache. Arms, shoulders, lower back, legs. Although I'm exhausted, I can't get comfortable, and I'm restless. I'm not really hungry, but I eat anyways thinking my body needs fuel to recover and rebuild. I keep on drinking, and wondering when I'm going to have to pee (usually after I pass a rest stop).

Which leads to our next topic.

We're going to get into potty talk so stop reading if that bothers you or you're eating or something.

After a race, my GI tract isn't right. Usually, I poop like clock work. Everything just moves along and is very predictable. Throw in a race, and who knows what's going to happen.

More often than not, there is some back up that takes a couple of days to totally clear before my system gets back to normal.

Norcross was the opposite. Everything was "quicker", even the return to normal.

If you're thinking more info than I wanted to know, well, I warned you...